In our study of Mark we are in Mark 10:21-22; where Jesus tells the rich man who said he kept the law to sell everything give the proceeds to the poor and follow Him to Jerusalem.
We took up a study of the doctrine of the poor that we have almost completed and in our last class we saw God's remedy for the declining trends in human history that is also a remedy for poverty.
That remedy is found in 1Cor 1:23-31; where the poor and those of the lower classes are called into the Royal Family of God and form the pivot of believers who change the course of history because of their positive volition to God's word under the principle that that as goes the believer, so goes freedom and prosperity in the client nation.
We must always remember that it is God's Word that is what is important. People with negative volition are nothing and people with positive volition are simply the channel for the deployment of God's Word into human history so it's not about people it's about God's Word.
We saw that one of the factors in the downtrend in the USA today is the negative volition that has resulted in the satanically influenced insidious move away from a representative republic that the founders established towards democracy.
Democracy is evil. It is the worst form of government because it gives the vote and therefore a say to a maximum number of people who have no doctrine and therefore no integrity and no responsibility.
People with no integrity and no responsibility are the least qualified to shape and form government policy. and when they do it results in the tyranny of an evil self absorbed, self serving government that manipulates the uninformed unprincipled people who have no integrity in order to seize and maintain power through propaganda, deceit, and lies.
The result of this is that we now have oligarchs with power but no integrity who are living in self indulgence, self deception, self justification, denial and projection running the country.
They are intolerant, self serving and judgmental. They constantly accuse and malign those actually do have integrity when they stand for truth. This is exactly what satan does. Rev 12:10;
They are irrational because they have no capacity for rational thinking from Divine establishment or Bible doctrine. Ezek 22:29-31;
Without a major change in direction back to the founding principles our nation is rapidly moving toward self destruction. The only reason God hasn't permitted our nation to be destroyed already is because for the moment the rest of the nations in the world have less divine establishment viewpoint and fewer believers forming a pivot through their application of Bible doctrine than the USA does.
Mark 10:21-22; Back to our study in Mark.
Mark 10:23; And Jesus looked around and said to His disciples; with difficulty the wealthy will enter into the kingdom of God.
Rich people do get saved but they get saved with difficulty. Their problem is their tendency to depend upon their own wealth and natural ability rather than to trust in what God did for them through Jesus Christ on the cross.
The rich young ruler has two obstacles, not only is he rich and talented but he is also religious so he is also going to try to depend on his good deeds for salvation and that doesn't work because all good works are excluded in salvation. Eph 2:8-9;
The righteousness that God requires for salvation does not come from doing good works. Rom 3:21-22; 2Cor 5:21; It only comes from faith in Jesus Christ.
There is nothing wrong with being rich and talented and it isn't impossible for a rich man to be saved, it is just more difficult because of their tendency to trust in their own ability and resources.
Mark 10:24a; The disciples were astonished at His words. The word translated "amazed" in the NASB and astonished in the NET is the Greek word "ethambounto" that means to be amazed or astonished, dumbfounded or flabbergasted. In other words they could hardly believe what Jesus was saying.
They were astonished because in Judaism wealth was considered to be an indication of God's blessing and favor so being rich was considered to be an advantage not a disadvantage before God.
The Jews did not consider wealth to be an impediment to entering God's kingdom and it isn't unless the rich person trusts in the riches rather than Jesus Christ. Wealth is only a problem if it is misused just like the Mosaic Law is only a problem if it is misused.
This is an example of taking what God meant for good and misusing it for evil because of the OSN. Rom 8:3; Mankind does this most of the time.
Mark 10:24b; Children how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God?
The phrase " those that have riches" that is added in some translations is not in the original. See KJV and Net note 41.
In this passage Jesus refers to the twelve disciples as "children" the Greek word "teknon" because of their spiritual immaturity or lack of faith (doctrine). They were amazed because their doctrinal frame of reference was insufficient to handle what Jesus was telling them.
If they had a doctrinal frame of reference they would not have been surprised or amazed at His statement because no one can ever enter the kingdom based on their own resources. It exclusively requires God's resources. 2Cor 5:21; Rom 5:8; Rom 4:5;
Mark 10:25; It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
In this verse to make His point Jesus uses a Jewish proverb to describe the impossible. It is easier by comparison for a camel, (the largest animal in Palestine at that time), to go through the eye of a common sewing needle (the smallest opening) than for a rich man (who trusts in his riches) to enter God's kingdom.
Mark 10:26; They were even more astonished and said to Him, then who can be saved? Their assumption is that if a rich person who has God's blessing and favor can't be saved who can be saved?
Mark 10:27; Looking at them Jesus said with men (humans) this is impossible. (No one can be saved by his own works) But with God all things are possible (because of Jesus Christ).
No one can save themselves, only God can save. The rich young ruler is trying to save himself and he can't do it and no one else can either because salvation requires God's very own righteousness that can only be acquired by faith alone in Christ alone. Rom 9:30-32;
The rich man had the advantage of wealth and because he was an Israelite, the Mosaic law, but neither would save him in fact they both actually became an impediment to his salvation because he was misusing them and attempting to use them to establish his own self-righteousness so he could justify himself instead of simply believing in Jesus as Messiah for righteousness. Rom 3:1-3;
Remember the principle that God's power is deployed in our weakness. 2Cor 12:9-10; God is in the business of helping the helpless. (The poor and the weak who are humble enough to receive His help). Isa 66:2;
From God's perspective because of spiritual death everyone regardless of wealth, natural ability, racial identity, or social status is poor and weak.